Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Sridhar, Bangalore, Mobility, 01/05/08
Sridhar Gundaiah, January 5, 2008
Bangalore, India.
Sridhar Gundaiah (26) likes to watch the sky, read, listen to music, and travel. But most importantly, he is the young CEO of a Location Based Company (LBS) called Yulop. Yulop (pronounced yu-loop) is the largest LBS content provider in India. Sridhar hails from Kunigal (100 kms West of Bangalore). Sridhar’s father is an official with the Bangalore Mahanagar Palike and works in Urban Planning and Management. His mother is a housewife and sister recently completed her Bachelors’ degree in Computer Applications. She is also a classical dancer. In his own words, he is closest to his sister. Since he and his sister live with their parents, he mostly communicates with her in person. If they are away, the he uses a cell phone. He can find no substitute to personal communication with his sister and his parents. Hopes to get married in couple of years- its good to be with somebody else, he says. When he is not at home, he relies on the cell phone. His extended family lives in Hassan. His relatives in rural Karnataka have cell phones and cell phones are primary way to communicate with them. His extended family living in rural Karnataka does not use the internet but they all use cell phones.
Domain Specific (Mobility)
Sridhar received his M.S. in Computer Science (Open Source Technologies) in 2004-2005 from the University of Greenwich. He is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Greenwich. He worked in the Bay Area for Schwabs’s mobile applications for online trading purposes. He is now excited about his entrepreneurial prospects. Yulop has “India’s maximum content records – 3 million records. Next best competitor is Google with .5 million records.” Sridhar says that his hope is to build LBS for all urban cities in India. He also hopes to reach the rural market.
“Identifying where you are” is critical to LBS. GPS costs approximately Rs. 16000 in India ($ 300-400). This could be expensive for many. Sridhar says that given the fact that the “Indian cellular network was growing very fast, my catch point was- what if using cellular network I can locate myself… Everybody has a mobile- what if using an ordinary cell phone I could locate them- locate somebody using a cellular network.” He goes on to say that “in India we have to work with what is available. GPS need educating people- another medium to educate people but cell-phones- they already know.”
“We know how to build technology but do not know how to use it- use it in India- Indian market” says Sridhar. The key to being an entrepreneur according to Sridhar is to create a market. “You can’t say there is a market- you got to create a market” says Sridhar.
His passion is in the area of mobility- decongestion of traffic. He talks about Google’s pilot project in Mountain View, CA. “Google got traffic data and congestion information in Mountain View area on 101.” He wants to do the same with traffic constables in Bangalore.” Sridhar expects “in future people will commute less- they may work from home.” He hopes to travel in public transportation in future. “Would like to see that as a change”, he says.
Social Affiliations
Sridhar is active in Proto.in. Proto.in is a celebration of entrepreneurship and showcases entrepreneurship at the startup level. It is a networking tool for the entrepreneurial community. “This event has grown leaps and bounds in last few years and is funded by NASSCOMM” says Sridhar.
Sridhar is also active on social networking websites like Orkut and Facebook. He has approximately 194 networks on Linkedin. He mainly uses these to chat with his friends, create new networks, write blogs on technology related topics. He blogs on plugged.in.
Relaxation and Fun
He loves to shop- apparels, electronic gadgets for work, cultural artifacts for his sister and chocolates. He likes swimming, so in a recent trip to the Western Ghats he jumped in a well and swam. He reads and listens to music. He is a good photographer. Sridhar is hoping to buy a new telescope to watch the sky. He carries his constellation book- travels outside Bangalore city and looks for the pitch black sky to see stars. He says that sometimes a shower helps him relax.
Use of Technology
“I am a technology freak.” His use of technology is more apparent at work that personal usage. Personally, he only uses his laptop, digital SLR Nikon D60, digital camcorder, ipod, and cell phone. At work, he uses various LBS related applications.
Travel
He travels frequently to Western Ghats with friends. They talk about technology since most of his friends come from the same background as he does. While traveling, he randomly speaks with people- loves to talk and learn. He gives an example of his recent trip to a coffee plantation in Western Ghats. He asked questions on the coffee industry and the technology to pluck coffee leaves. At 26, Sridhar has visited 23 countries- Spain, Norway, UK , Finland, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Belgium, Korea, Japan… On such tours he takes his laptop, phone, ipod, camera, diary and pen and scribbles notes.
In Sridhar’s case, it seems that travel, mobility, and interest in LBS- are somewhere interconnected. He is sensitive to cultural differences during travel and states that there is one thing that is common and cuts across all cultural differences- cell phone.
Philanthropy
Of all his achievements, Sridhar is specially proud of a legacy that he has inherited from his father- Vinayaka Vidya Mandir- a school. It is a 30 year old institution that provides free education to 1100 poor children. It was his father’s creation. “My father came from a poor family and thought that education is the way out…He started with 20 people- 30 people- today 1100.” He teaches students for couple of hours a day. The government funds all teachers - about 40 teachers. Some of the children are sponsored by a few patrons.
For Sridhar technology is a world of creative possibilities- a world of ambition and fulfillment. His choice of LBS as the area of innovative adaptation of technology represents a deep social concern. Mobility and facilitation of communication in a congested context are the frontiers for his social and technological quests.